Probably the most thrilling second of your new WordPress undertaking is correct at the start. You’ve got an concept that at some point, you hope will quickly be shared with the world. But it surely will also be overwhelming.
WordPress has numerous plugins that do just about every part below the solar. In reality, the WordPress ecosystem has doubled when it comes to plugin submissions in 2025.
So, which of them do you have to use?
On this publish, I’ll discuss by means of how I plan to construct a WordPress web site.
Why You Ought to Plan A WordPress Web site
To plan a WordPress web site actually is a must-do course of that reduces the danger of the undertaking spiralling in time and price.
Spending an hour or two following a easy guidelines, just like the one I’ve detailed beneath, places you and the shopper on the identical web page when constructing the web site.
Again and again, I’ve seen tasks that’ve undefined components that must be factored in, which eliminates potential scope creep.
It’s going to additionally provide you with a listing of duties, so in addition to avoiding scope creep, you possibly can simply switch the weather of your plan into your undertaking administration instrument as duties and milestones. That can pace up improvement time.
Outline Your WordPress Web site Objectives
The very first thing you need to do is outline the targets of the web site. The best technique to start this course of is to ask your self the next two questions:
- The place are your guests more than likely to come back from?
- What do you would like them to do once you’re on the web site?
Assuming that the location is a brochure web site, then greater than probably, you’d need your guests to come back from search engines like google and yahoo, and also you need them to contact you.
That manner, you’ll want a plugin like Yoast search engine optimization or Gravity Types.
You’ll have different targets, like rising a e-newsletter or an ecommerce retailer. Or it’s possible you’ll get visitors from a social media platform that your weblog must combine with.
Every of those must be outlined, as it will assist outline your tech stack.
Objectives Outlined? Nice. Now, Plan The Structure
When you’ve outlined your targets, you could take into consideration the structure and what customized work you’ll need to do.
When constructing your web site, I favor to think about templates, moderately than pages.
You don’t want a template for each weblog publish, for instance. If you’re constructing a web site for a solicitor, for instance, all providers it provides (e.g., Conveyancing/Wills & Probate) may run off the same template, slicing construct time.
This isn’t essentially true should you’re utilizing a web page builder, as generally web page builders deal with every particular person web page individually.
You would additionally take a look at customized publish varieties and taxonomies for sure pages.
For instance, in case you have a “Meet the Crew” web page, then each individual might be their very own publish. This makes upkeep lots simpler, because it permits a brand new crew member to be simply built-in with out an excessive amount of hassle.
Testimonials work nicely as a customized publish sort as you possibly can create a “financial institution” of them to make use of all through the location.
When you’ve received the construction of the location and what you might be utilizing to construct it, that must be the templates.
Typically, for a brochure web site with a weblog and a “Meet the Crew” part, you’d have the next templates:
- Dwelling Web page Template.
- About Web page Template.
- Contact Us Web page Template.
- Information Put up Template (Single).
- Information Put up Template (Archive).
- Crew Member Template (Single).
- Crew Member Template (Archive).
- Catch All Template.
The “Catch All” template I discover helpful because it’s used for pages which are current however don’t want a lot design, one thing like a Phrases & Circumstances or your Privateness Coverage pages.
I have a tendency to begin with these first, as you possibly can construct a header/footer simply sufficient right here.
Lastly, it’s possible you’ll need to contemplate whether or not you’ve got a number of languages or in case you have totally different regional places of work. A big web site could also be higher suited to a multisite, moderately than a person WordPress set up.
As soon as executed, you need to have a WordPress theme and a WordPress plugin able to construct.
My normal thought is that any WordPress performance you want to retain when redesigning must be in a plugin, moderately than a theme.
Issues like definitions of customized publish varieties or search engine optimization adjustments you make programmatically are perfect for a customized plugin.
Relying on the complexity of the undertaking, it may imply that you just cut up performance into a lot of plugins.
For instance, I’ve an ecommerce web site the place their customized invoicing is in a single plugin, and the voucher administration is in one other plugin. There’s additionally the “helper” plugin that has minor efficiency enhancements and a customized publish sort.
Don’t Overlook The Ancillaries!
After all, a well-built WordPress theme, with a spread of customized and supporting plugins, is just the start. Your web site wants content material.
If you’re a advertising and marketing company, it’s possible you’ll be chargeable for the creation of the content material, however what about imagery? It’s a good suggestion to outline within the WordPress web site planning issues like who’s chargeable for the content material.
If you’re utilizing the content material of the outdated web site, it’s a good suggestion to outline who handles the migration, or on the very least remember if it’s transferable – not all content material programs are!
Different issues to outline in your WordPress web site plan are coaching, who may have entry to the location, and what stage. Ideally, you need as few directors as potential.
If you’re pushing a brand new design to an present web site, there’s an method of constructing all people however your self authors or editors, and see who complains about missing entry. That works remarkably nicely!
The First Step Comes With Expertise
In actuality, the extra you create plans and pitches for WordPress web sites, the extra refined your toolset and your planning course of grow to be.
I already know the instruments I’ll be utilizing for the following 10, possibly 20 websites, with typically little or no variance amongst them. What works for a solicitor’s web site will most likely work for a cleansing agency.
I’ve a core group of about 5 to 10 plugins and two to a few themes that I take advantage of, after which I add additional plugins as wanted.
These plugins are private to me, however over time, you’ll construct your personal checklist of plugins. Doing so will make WordPress web site planning way more environment friendly.
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